FIG. 1 shows an overall view of an environment wherein the invention can be utilized for a logistic process. The environment shown in FIG. 1 is intended to illustrate rather than restrict the invention. Reference numeral 1-100 denotes an exemplary logistic process in the real world. The logistic process 1-100 comprises various process steps, including real-world delivery of hardware, software and/or service from supplier to customer. In the context of the present invention, any business processes relating to the logistic process, such as negotiations, bidding or invoicing, are considered part of the logistic process 1-100. Reference numeral 1-200 denotes an information management system, which supports the logistic process 1-100. In an illustrative but non-restrictive example, the information management system, of which there may be more than one, comprises a resource-planning system. The acronym ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, which term is frequently used in connection with logistic processes. The invention is not restricted to environments wherein the information management systems 1-200 meet a strict definition of ERP system, however. Reference numeral 1-300 generally denotes computer-implemented analysis tools or analysis system. It is generally known that computer-implemented analysis systems, such as the one denoted by reference numeral 1-300, can be used to analyse real-world processes, such the one denoted by reference numeral 1-100.
One of the problems associated with the environment relates to the fact that while it is generally desirable to analyse the efficiency of the logistic process 1-100 by computer-implemented analysis system 1-300, and thereby locate bottlenecks and problems spots in the logistic process 1-100, it is normally impossible to couple the computer-implemented analysis system 1-300, directly to the logistic process 1-100. In FIG. 1, this problem is illustrated by the fact that the arrow between the logistic process 1-100 and the computer-implemented analysis system 1-300 is broken. Obviously, there is a motivation to couple the computer-implemented analysis tools 1-300 with the logistic process 1-100 indirectly, via the ERP system 1-200. This indirect coupling, in turn, generates additional problems or questions, such as how to program the analysis system 1-300 to obtain data that is relevant to the problem of discovering bottlenecks and problem spots in the logistic process. For the purposes of the ERP system 1-200 it suffices that the various events in the logistic process 1-100 are recorded in the ERP system 1-200, but the ERP system 1-200 is not programmed to discover process bottlenecks. In fact, a typical ERP system 1-200 is ignorant of cause-effect or predecessor-successor relations between the events in the logistic process 1-100.
Another problem relates to the fact that the number of individual processes (process instances) in a typical ERP system is huge. Each open or completed order is an instance of a process that differs from all the other process instances at some level of detail. On the other hand, if all process instances are generalized to just the two end nodes (namely start and end), all process end up being the same. The question, then, is how to generalize processes such that classes of processes begin to emerge, wherein certain classes of processes tend to exhibit various problems, such as long processing times, convoluted process flows, or the like.
The question of discovering potentially problematic process classes is not merely a question of obtaining cognitive information. In addition, there is clearly technical problem of how to perform the process analysis (in the analysis system 1-300) with sufficient efficiency, such that interactive real-time analysis is possible. Let us assume, firstly, that all data describing the ERP process resides in the database of the ERP system 1-200 and that data is to be analysed in the analysis system 1-300. Those skilled in the art will realize that the amounts of data can be enormous and the bandwidth of data communications between the ERP system 1-200 and the analysis system 1-300 prevent any kind of interactive real-time analysis wherein data has to be transferred in real time between ERP system 1-200 and the analysis system 1-300.
Let us next assume that all data from the ERP system 1-200 is mirrored locally in the analysis system 1-300, in a normalized mode wherein all data items are stored exactly once. In such a system, it is the bandwidth between the database and server of the analysis system 1-300 that precludes real-time analysis if any non-indexed database operations spanning the entire database are needed. There is thus a motivation to cache some intermediate results to speed up the analysis. On the other hand, if too much of the intermediate results are cached in the analysis system 1-300, the problem is that any changes in the events of the logistic process 1-100, or its model in the ERP system 1-200, render the cached intermediate results obsolete. Also conducting the analysis itself may result in excluding certain source data events, making it necessary to re-calculate some or all cached values. The question, then, is what to cache and how?
A yet further problem relates to the fact that computer-implemented analysis systems are effective in screening processes that, say, take a longer time to complete than what is considered normal for a process of a given type. Yet computers have poor or no abilities to understand why a process takes an abnormally long time to complete. Accordingly, there is need for an interactive user interface via which a human user can focus on the problem spots in the logistic processes. Again, one should keep in mind that in addition to the high-level cognitive problem of what information should be provided to the human user, there are underlying technical problems of how to make the computer-implemented analysis system efficient enough such that interactive real-time analysis is possible. The combination of interactive usage and usage of advanced data mining and statistical analysis algorithms is specially advantageous when utilizing this invention.